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Gravity
Gravity was a Dutch robot that competed in Series 2 of Dutch Robot Wars and Series 7 of the UK Robot Wars. In the latter, it comfortably reached the Semi-Finals, defeating the seeded 13 Black and Dantomkia in the process, before finishing in the top eight after losing to then-reigning champion Tornado. Gravity was the first robot to overturn Dead Metal, as well as being the only robot to flip Growler and Cassius Chrome over. It also broke the shortest battle record by flipping Dantomkia out of the arena in 5.8 seconds during the Series 7 Semi-Finals, and was the most successful international robot ever to compete in the UK series. Versions of Gravity Gravity (Dutch Series 2) The first televised version of Gravity competed in the second series of Dutch Robot Wars. It was a polycarbonate box-wedge with a pneumatic flipping arm, which lay flush to the floor with decent lifting power. Gravity was quick, and for a two-wheel driven robot, it had extreme pushing power. However, it had a high ground clearance, it could not self-right, and its polycarbonate armour was highly destructible. The robot somewhat resembled the loanerbot entered as The Green House and Vert-I-Go. Gravity 3 (UK Series 7) GravityPits.png|Gravity in the pits during Series 7 Gravity R1.jpg|Gravity in its first-round melee Gravity 7.jpg|Gravity in the series semi-finals Gravity_S7.jpg|Gravity, with a poster attached in its Third World Championship qualifier battle Gravity 3 for sale.jpg|Gravity with a "For Sale" note in the House Robot Rebellion GravityChassis.jpg|The chassis of the Series 7 Gravity The version of Gravity seen in Series 7 was the third iteration of the machine, known by the team as Gravity 3, but simply named Gravity on the show. Resembling a snowspeeder in shape, Gravity's main weapon was an extremely powerful full-pressure flipper, easily capable of flipping in excess of 300 kilograms (as demonstrated by overturning Growler and Cassius Chrome) and driving through a car at speeds of 10 mph. It ran through two half-inch Burkert valves, fed by 2 litre full-pressure buffer tanks. The armour, on the other hand, was less resilient, with both its inflatable tyres also proving to be a weakness in its main competition loss. Gravity's front wedge was very low to the arena floor when grounded, although the wedge would often rise from the floor when Gravity moved from a standstill, due to Gravity's two-wheel drive system, consisting of 10" competition go-cart wheels driven through a 20:1 dual stage gearbox. Gravity's pneumatics system was loosely based on that of Dantomkia, as Dantomkia had participated in a Dutch Robot Rumble and been stripped down as part of a workshop to help the Dutch roboteers. The use of buffer-tanks, multiple inlet 1/2bsp valves and the giant high pressure 100mm bore 180mm stroke ram combined with the uncoupled flipper arm was a first, and spawned many successful copies and derivatives. The Team Team Captain WJ Dijkstra originated from Project One, before temporarily splitting from the other members of Team Mad Science for Series 2 of the Dutch Wars, which he entered alongside Mark Nievelstein, who joined the team after WJ Dijkstra sold the position on a public forum. WJ Dijkstra built Gravity alone, with only the 63m bore 220mm stroke ram and the unfortunately misused hydraulic 4/2 valve being provided by former teammate Mario "Maddox" de Jongh, and the Bosch 750w drivetrain being provided by Jeroen van der Loo of Team KODOX. During Dutch Series 2, WJ Dijkstra also teamed up with Jeroen van Lieverloo from Impact and Alex Ruschen from ODT-Zero to create the three way clusterbot √3, with each team member entering an individual featherweight and joining for the clusterbot. For the UK Championship in Series 7, WJ Dijkstra rebuilt Gravity, but as Jeroen van Lieverloo and Alex Ruschen did not have their own robots ready, WJ Dijkstra offered them each a place on his own team, as they had become good friends through competing with √3. Jeroen van Lieverloo would eventually become the owner and captain of the Gravity series, and reinvited WJ Dijkstra and Alex Ruschen onto his team for Series 8, but Gravity 5.7 was not chosen to compete, nor did the team of three return for the following series. Qualification Gravity qualified directly for Dutch Series 2 through open applications, due to the low number of applicants for the series, and WJ Dijkstra's experience as a returning roboteer, having competed in Series 1 with Project One. Gravity fought an impressive qualifier for Series 7 of the UK series alongside fellow European hopefuls Mechaniac and RCC 2, as well as a representative of Richard Huish College. It caused the latter to become briefly immobile with a single strong flip, and then pushed the other two around. It self-righted when flipped by Mechaniac, and threw Mechaniac towards the arena entry gates, flipping it and the British spinner again afterwards. Gravity won the battle, the only robot to qualify for the main competition. WJ Dijkstra also offered Jeroen van Lieverloo a place on his team, after his robot Impact 2 withdrew from its qualifier battle. Ahead of the rebooted UK Series 8, the current owner of Gravity, Jeroen van Lieverloo, sent in an application for Gravity 5.7 to compete in the series, also inviting WJ Dijkstra and Alex Ruschen back onto his team, with WJ Dijkstra being the robot's driver again. Gravity 5.7 was a more conventional wedge-shaped flipper design, which boasted less flipping power on the live circuit in comparison to the Series 7 competitor Gravity 3. Jeroen van Lieverloo completed an online application for Gravity, and created a new frame for the robot. However, despite the team presuming that Gravity's legacy in Series 7 would be grounds for it to qualify, they had not considered the possibility that Gravity had evolved into a design which did not stand out from other wedge-shaped flippers. Although Jeroen van Lieverloo initially received an email stating that his team had qualified for Series 8, this was a mistake, as the intended recipient was Jeroen van der Loohttps://www.facebook.com/TeamTieRip/posts/729934040672368?__tn__=K-R, and Gravity was not selected for the series. Jeroen van Lieverloo went on to compete alongside Jeroen van der Loo with Tough as Nails, while WJ Dijkstra and Alex Ruschen did not compete. Team Tie-Rip planned an upgraded Gravity 6 for Series 9, but decided not to apply due to time constraints, and Jeroen van Lieverloo instead joined Team Rubbish to compete with Cobra, and then his own machine THE BASH in the World Series, part of Series 10. WJ Dijkstra and Alex Ruschen are not known to have applied for either series. Robot History Dutch Series 2 Gravity's first battle was against Das Gepäck. Das Gepäck slammed Gravity into the wall, but Gravity was able to get underneath and lift Das Gepäck with its arm. It pushed Das Gepäck into the wall and pinned it before driving it into Sgt. Bash's CPZ and flipping it over. Das Gepäck escaped, but Gravity caught it and again forced it into Sgt. Bash's CPZ, this time flipping it up against the wall. Sgt. Bash freed Das Gepäck, and time ran out, meaning the jury would be called upon to make a decision. They ruled in favour of Gravity. In the next round, Gravity faced Bloody Murder Weapon. Gravity's flipper was not working, but its pushing power was sufficient enough to push Bloody Murder Weapon into Growler's CPZ. After Growler released it, Gravity simply pushed it in again. Gravity tried twice more to push Bloody Murder Weapon into a CPZ, but Bloody Murder Weapon escaped unharmed. Persistently, Gravity pushed Bloody Murder Weapon into a CPZ again, and this time Sir Killalot picked up Bloody Murder Weapon and spun it around the arena, releasing it just as the clock ran out. The jury's decision was, predictably, in favour of Gravity. In the Heat Final, Gravity faced Scrap-2-Saur. It managed to dodge Scrap-2-Saur's flipper for a few moments, but Scrap-2-Saur eventually got underneath and flipped it. It righted Gravity immediately after, only to flip it again. Gravity's flipper was still not working, so it was defenceless as Scrap-2-Saur pushed it into the CPZ, where Dead Metal sliced through its tyres. Gravity was counted out, and Matilda charged in with her flywheel, destroying Gravity's left side and tearing out its internals. Gravity was placed on the floor flipper, and the force of the flip caused Gravity's CO2 canister to separate from its hose and go skittering across the arena, propelled by its rapidly escaping gas. The CO2 canister eventually fell into the pit, followed shortly by Gravity. UK Series 7 Gravity made a tremendous start to its heat as it went up against Hydra, Thor, and Hodaf the Bad in Round 1. As both teams were in the same control booth, Gravity's team intended to team up with Hodaf the Bad, against Hydra and Thorhttps://www.facebook.com/TeamTieRip/posts/665597410439365. Gravity immediately charged at Hydra and tossed it high into the air with ease. As it came in for a second attack, Gravity missed with its flip, turning itself over, but rolled back onto its wheels after being flicked by Hydra. Gravity then pursued the fleeing Hydra across the arena, before briefly turning to attack Thor, but they were unable to get under Thor's front wedge. Instead, Gravity picked on Hydra again, flipping their opponent and sending them spinning through the air again. As Hydra attempted to turn over Gravity with its lifting arm, Gravity flipped them once more, in an attempt to throw it out of the arena, causing it to land on the arena wall and destroy a section of it. Gravity then threw Hydra from the arena and into a camera, breaking it, before 'cease' was called for safety reasons. Not hearing the original 'cease', the team continued fighting, and flipped Thor over Refbot, causing its hammer to become stuck in Refbot until 'cease' was called for a second timehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/UnofficialRobotWars/permalink/706047689674999/. The judges marked the criteria up until the first 'cease' was called, and Gravity moved through, along with Thor. In the second round of the heat, Gravity went up against the seventh seeds, 13 Black. Gravity was by far the more aggressive robot, and 13 Black spent much of the battle upside down after just one flip from Gravity. After a while, Gravity pushed 13 Black into a CPZ and began spinning around in the middle of the arena, celebrating with its flipper open. Meanwhile, Sir Killalot came in and righted 13 Black, prompting Gravity to attack 13 Black again, missing this time and lifting Sir Killalot instead, before flipping their opponent and accidentally throwing the previous Semi-Finalists out of the arena, eliminating them. It is known that before the heat final, and possibly before the semi-final, Gravity had to lower the power of its flipper. This may have come as a result of Gravity damaging the arena wall and camera in its first battle, and this may also explain why Gravity did not attempt to throw Lightning out of the arena in their Heat Final. Lightning had suffered a puncture prior to entering the arena and could not escape Gravity's onslaught. Gravity came in for a second attack, but missed and nearly turned itself over instead. The two competitors then became locked in a push-and-shove match, with Gravity causing minor damage to Lightning in the process. Eventually, Gravity was able to get another flip in on Lightning, immobilising Lightning in the process. Gravity continued to flip the beaten machine, before Refbot came in to count Lightning out. To celebrate, Gravity then flipped Shunt with ease, and then turned Dead Metal over after some difficulty, leaving Refbot as the only other mobile machine. Refbot showed Gravity the red card, but Lightning was already counted out, and so Gravity progressed to the series Semi-Finals. In the first round of the Semi-Finals, Gravity was placed up against the fifth seed Dantomkia, the robot that WJ Dijkstra feared the most out of all the other series semi-finalists. However, when the battle started, Gravity very quickly slid underneath the side of Dantomkia's wedge and rushed over to the arena side wall with Dantomkia stuck on Gravity's wedge, throwing it out of the arena in 5.8 seconds, setting the record for the shortest battle in the UK series which had previously been set by Dantomkia. This remains the fastest battle of the original run of Robot Wars, and the second-fastest in the show overall. This quick victory put Gravity up against the reigning champions, Tornado, in the second round of the Semi-Finals. In this battle, Tornado was the quicker machine, and slammed Gravity into the arena wall and then into Sir Killalot's CPZ. Gravity sustained a tyre puncture from Sir Killalot's claw, and was clearly hobbling as Tornado continued to push it around the arena. Gravity finally got underneath Tornado and flipped it high into the air and upside-down. Tornado shoved Gravity again, but Gravity flipped Tornado the right way up. Tornado activated the pit release button and pushed Gravity onto the pit just as it was opening, and Gravity fell into oblivion. Gravity attempted to qualify to represent the Netherlands in The Third World Championship, facing two other Dutch robots to earn a place - Scraptosaur and Tough as Nails. Tough as Nails pitted Scraptosaur in the opening seconds, before Gravity could even become involved. Gravity and Tough as Nails then waged a fairly even contest, where Tough as Nails would ride over Gravity's wedge and throw itself around the arena, whilst Gravity mostly missed with its flips during these encounters - at one stage resulting in Gravity overturning itself, forcing it to self-right. Both robots were plagued by the presence of Refbot in this fight, which interrupted attacks from both parties. After Tough as Nails held a brief grip on Gravity, the flipper of Gravity was used to launch Tough as Nails backwards with a big flip. However, once Tough as Nails escaped, it grabbed Gravity from behind, and took it to the pit, dropping it in to eliminate Gravity ahead of the Third World Championship. Gravity also participated in the last battle to be filmed in the Robot Wars Arena prior to the series' 12-year hiatus, the House Robot Rebellion, competing alongside Behemoth. Having previously defeated Shunt and Dead Metal, Gravity was now able to challenge Cassius Chrome, Growler, and Mr. Psycho. Gravity was rammed by Growler in the opening seconds, but recovered and flipped Growler onto its back fairly quickly. Meanwhile, Behemoth activated the pit just as Cassius Chrome drove over it. Gravity used this opportunity to flip Cassius Chrome onto its side over the pit, but Refbot would later free the trapped House Robot. Gravity tried to attack Mr. Psycho but could not flip it, and the colossal House Robot smashed Gravity with its hammer, immobilising it. Behemoth attempted to use the motionless but still actively armed Gravity as a weapon against the House Robots, but Behemoth struggled to push Gravity forwards, and Cassius Chrome shoved them apart. Mr. Psycho had become immobile during the battle, leaving only Cassius Chrome and Behemoth active at the end of the five-minute battle. The audience decided that Behemoth and Gravity were the winners of the House Robot Rebellion. Later on, the damage caused by the hammer blows from Mr. Psycho was revealed to be nothing more than the long antenna dropping from the supporting tube into the robot. The sensitive failsafes of the Mythras speed controllers didn't accept the radio controls any more, but the RC switch that commanded the flipper remained functional. Results |} Wins/Losses *UK Wins: 5 *UK Losses: 2 *Dutch Wins: 2 *Dutch Losses: 1 Series Record Dutch Series UK Series Outside Robot Wars Gravity2.jpg|Gravity 2 Hades04.jpeg|Gravity 3 (As Hades) not long after it was sold to Team VHS and was renamed Hades05.jpeg|Hades (formerly Gravity 3) in 2005 Hades08.jpeg|Hades (formerly Gravity 3) in 2006 in its pre-UK Championships spec HadesLarge.png|Hades (formerly Gravity 3) in 2008 Hadesnow.jpg|Gravity 3 as Team VHS' Hades now Gravity 4.jpg|Gravity 4 Gravity 4.5.JPG|Gravity 4.5 Gravity.gif|Gravity 5.1 in 2010/2011, competing in Roaming Robots Gravity_5.1.jpg|Gravity 5.1 at the Roaming Robots 2011 Heavyweight Championships Hades Jr..jpg|Hades Jr., the featherweight version of Hades Although the original Gravity competed in Dutch Series 2, and Gravity 3 competed in UK Series 7, Gravity 2 was not seen on television. It greatly resembled Gravity 3, serving as a prototype to its successor. In July 2004, Gravity 3 was sold to Team VHS-Robots, builders of Pika. Gravity 3 was rebuilt into Hades, which continued to compete for many years, albeit without major success. Meanwhile, WJ Dijkstra continued to build Gravity machines, first creating Gravity 4 from the remains of the original Gravity machine, a cheaply-constructed robot built simply so WJ Dijkstra had a robot to compete in UK live events with, which he did at two separate events. WJ Dijkstra planned a Gravity 4.5 after this, and would finally build Gravity 5, which would become Gravity 5.2, and competed over the 12-year hiatus of Robot Wars, also attempting to qualify for [[Robot Wars: Series 8|Series 8 of Robot Wars]]. Robot Wars Live Events Due to Gravity 5.2 coming from the Netherlands, it has only appeared irregularly at the Robot Wars Live Events. It first competed in the second live event of the new Robot Wars Live Events at the Robot Wars Championship event at Portsmouth in March 2013. It fought Ripper and Meggamouse in the heats, putting in a strong performance but losing the judges' decision after getting flipped repeatedly by Ripper. It also took part in a separate European Challenge battle against two German robots, Tsunami and Luzifer, therefore being the only Dutch robot in the fight. It got a flip in on Tsunami, but one of its wheels broke off afterwards, immobilising it. In 2015, Gravity performed well at the Robot Wars World Championships, held in Colchester. It was the last robot left standing in its first round battle, as Gripper was flipped over, and Ripper became stuck in the wall structure, before Gravity pushed the eventual champion Toxic 2 into the pit, despite Toxic 2 qualifying regardless. In the second round, Gravity fought Tiberius and Kan-Opener, the latter breaking down in the opening seconds. Gravity spent the full three minutes fighting a head-to-head battle with Tiberius, where it suffered from a long period of crushing, puncturing Gravity's tyre, but Gravity still won the Judges' decision after flipping Tiberius several times. Gravity entered the quarter-finals with a tyre on top of its flipper for extra protection. It survived a long period of time against Gabriel, flipping Gabriel around and briefly stranding it on its wheel, but Gravity received blows from Gabriel's sword throughout. Gravity became immobile as a result of flipping itself over, and locking its flipper open when trying to self-right, which stranded Gravity on its back end, leading to Gabriel winning the Judges' decision. Trivia *Gravity was one of the two competitor robots to fight in the final ever battle filmed in the Robot Wars Arena before the show took a 12-year hiatus, fighting alongside Behemoth in the House Robot Rebellion. *Every House Robot except Matilda was flipped by either Team Firestorm (including Sir Killalot's fall) or Gravity. Somewhat appropriately, Matilda inflicted grievous damage to both of them at one point. *Both of Gravity's Championship appearances were in Heat D. *Gravity was one of only four robots to enter multiple side events in Series 7, alongside Behemoth, Flippa and Kat 3. *Like Anty B, there was a model of the robot which only competed in live competitions. *Gravity held the record for the shortest battle in televised Robot Wars competition, throwing Dantomkia out of the arena in 5.7 seconds during their Series 7 Semi-Final battle. This record was later broken by Rapid in the Heat Semi-Finals of Series 10, Heat 3, where it threw Track-tion out of the arena in just 5.6 seconds. The record was also broken by Kronic in March 2012, which defeated Iron-Awe at a Roaming Robots event by throwing it out of the arena in just 4 seconds - the shortest battle in all FRA-sanctioned competitions. *In 2007, Gravity received an Honorable Mention in The Combat Robot Hall of Fame, in recognition of the Series 7 version's powerful flipper and its influences on European robot combat design.http://runamok.tech/hall_of_fame.html Honours References Category:UK Series competitors Category:UK Semi-Finalists Category:Robots that have thrown another robot out of the arena Category:Dutch Robots Category:Single Battle Event Winners Category:Dutch Series competitors Category:Honourable Mentions in The Combat Robot Hall of Fame Category:Dutch Representatives Category:Robots that have flipped Shunt Category:Two Nation Competitors Category:Robots with more Wins than Losses Category:Robots that have flipped a House Robot Category:Robots whose final appearance was a win Category:Robots with alternate versions Category:Robots which are still competing today Category:Competitors in Robot Wars Live Events Category:Robots to defeat a seed Category:Substitute Robots Category:Robots that bore the Dutch flag Category:Robots to damage the Arena Category:Robots that have flipped Dead Metal Category:Robots to damage Shunt Category:Robots with Rear-hinged Flippers Category:Robots to damage Cassius Chrome